When will reality checks start being performed in my dreams?

Hello, this is my first post to dreamviews! I'm not new to lucid dreaming, but I am new to this site so sorry if I get something wrong!

So, a bit of background on my quest for lucidity to help you know a bit about me:

I knew about lucid dreaming for quite a few years before actually learning there were ways to do it willingly. Before that, I only thought it was a thing which could randomly happen to a few lucky people during their dreams.

It was near the start of March this year when I got a crush on someone and, due to some search queries which I can't specifically remember, I found out you could use lucid dreaming as a way to do whatever you wanted to... :P

So I recorded in my DJ for a couple of months and performed RCs throughout the day, but to no avail. I gave up doing RCs and stopped recording in my DJ for a while, until one weekend I had a short moment of lucidity in a dream. I got excited after that and restarted trying to LD. I tried a few techniques like MILD, WBTB, and MILD + WBTB but I still had no lucid dreams. I gave up yet again and now I have restarted for the third time. This time I plan to keep it up for good.

So, with my RCs, I perform maybe 2-3 per hour, and I do the nose pinch one (and I REALLY expect to be able to breathe through my nose), followed by checking my hands + counting fingers, then finally I finish it with trying to poke my finger through my hand (again, really willing it to go through).

I've done these reality checks for a month now, and my dream recall is pretty damn good compared to when I started. At the start of my journey I had dry spells where I went for 3-5 days without even remembering a single fragment of a dream, but now I rarely have blank days, and I can usually remember 2-3 dreams in detail, but this morning I remembered 4 different dreams. Usually, out of the 3 I remember, at least one is very vivid.

From what I've learnt about lucid dreaming, this is a very good rate to be remembering dreams at. But still, the only lucid I've had was a random DILD, without RCing, and I have never before performed one of my RCs inside a dream! So, when will my RCs take effect in a dream?

I also want to note that I don't to these RCs mindlessly, so that means I am thinking and expecting to be in a dream while I do them, but it's still not working!

Any help would be appreciated, thanks!

I think RC's work differently for everyone. I've done plenty of RC's but have never had a lucid dream start from one. Usually I become lucid first, and then do the reality check to stabilize the dream/ confirm that it's a dream beyond all doubt.

As for your situation, try to make every moment a reality check. If you're in a conversation, analyze it to see if it makes sense. Look around you and figure out where you are and why you're there. Just start being more aware in general, not getting lost in thought. Hopefully a mindset like this will make its way into your dreams and you'll be lucid more often.

I just started doing this, so I know it's tough to be constantly aware. But many people here agree that All-Day-Awareness and similar techniques are very helpful, especially when performed diligently.

Thank you for the help! And increasing my awareness in general sounds like a great idea, and it's something I might be able to do without forgetting, due to being bored at school and having nothing to think about, so thoughts of 'does this seem strange in any way?' and 'how did I get here?' should come naturally.

You've learned a valuable lesson here but not yet realized it: the effects of LD practice build up gradually, over time. The effects manifest later (some times MUCH later...months maybe). Everyone's different with timing.

But one thing is universal: if you quit, you won't lucid dream (much). If you never quit again and make day and night practice a part of your daily life, your abilities will grow and grow over time. One of my favorite quotes I recently came across is: "Those who quit due to slow progress fail to realize that slow progress is progress."

Improving dream recall is a great sign, keep it up. Always work on recall, always try to recall your dreams every single time your find yourself awake.

As for beginner day practice particulars, I'm a huge fan of pure LaBerge for getting started. It got me my first LD in one month of studious practice. It's all outlined in detail in his A Course In Lucid Dreaming, available free with a google search. It's even better than ETWOLD since all the exercises are nicely arranged.

Once you master the practices described in ACILD, and rack up a good solid dream journal and some good LDs, I'd recommend investigating more continual awareness approaches like mindfulness/vigilance.

Best of luck! And welcome to DV!

Oh, and I recommend opening a workbook in the DV Academy: either the intro or the DILD course. Updating your workbook allows you and others to track your progress. You also get feedback from experienced LDers to help diagnose any issues you may encounter.

That quote is nice :D

And I found out about the ADA technique yesterday. OK, well it's not exactly a technique, but more of a way of living, but it still seemed like a pretty good way of increasing awareness in general. I started trying it yesterday evening, but I only managed to remember to keep aware for a few minutes at a time. Still, I think it had an effect on my dream that night. Could you maybe tell me if this was a result of practising ADA?

So in the dream, I am in school and I am working on my design and technology project with the rest of my class. I then see the name of my crush written on the board. My dream-mind seems to think the same way my real life self would, and the thought was 'Well, it doesn't matter that he got moved down in science because he's still in my DT', but then in my dream I said 'Wait, <name> isn't in my DT class' but strangely I didn't become lucid.

Do you think that the increased awarenesses that All Day Awareness aims to give you helped me to make that realisation in my dream, even though it didn't make me lucid?

I personally recommend mindfulness rather than King Yoshi ADA. Focus and attention on your self rather than the environment around you seems to be the key for LDing. Attention to location is OK as long as your focus is on your *self* being there. Bring a sense of critical reflection to your awareness work, otherwise you'll pay wonderful attention to the dream world all around you but stay non-lucid.